Nuffield Day 16 -20 by 2020 - Foundation for Arable Research Site

Today turned out to be one of the most interesting an informative days of the trip so far.  I met up with Rob Craigie, from FAR at Innovation Place just south of Christchurch.  We set off in the drizzle to a field where the trials for New Zealand’s 20 by 20 project are being conducted.

The field is dry land, although there is the ability to water if required and reasonably well bodied silt clay loam following two years of clover.  The trial site has three drilling dates, February, March and April. Which would equate to August onwards, back n the UK.

The trials were very in depth examining how the crop, the main cultivar being Wakanui, develops from the different seed drilling dates, populations and how they are managed.  The results will be very interesting indeed.

The very early drilled crops were very forward and kept growing through the winter which allowed them to put on far too much biomass.  

As a result many of the tillers died back and new tillers had to sprout out from the base of the plant making them weak and vulnerable to lodging.  Some of this was managed in the trial by cutting and removing the biomass, and in the main field area sheep were used to reduce over all biomass.  This could have a detrimental effect on the yield but it could be better than having the crop lodge.

One of the main trials is looking at higher nitrogen and fungicide use.  This trial is applying an extra 100Kg of nitrogen to the crop and increasing the fungicide program.  Some of the plants were very thick and there was some lodging; which made the plant growth regulator trials also fascinating.  Chlormequat and Moddus mixes were being used at different timings giving some very interesting physical differences in plant height.

 

The fungicide trials were also showing some signs that epoxyconazole was not as effective against septoria as it used to be.  Samples will be sent to the UK to check for resistance but the disease could take the shine off many of the plots final yields.  The photo above shows an untreated plot that has sen almost stripped of any green leaf.  Bearing mind 45% of the yield comes form the flag (top) leaf this doesn't look good.  A huge thanks to the FAR team and especially Rob Craigie for showing me around the trial site today.  I look forward to hearing about the results after harvest sometime around February.

I left Rob and headed on to meet Richard Green, and family, the director of Nuffield New Zealand who was my host overnight.  During the conversation Richard suggested that I meet up with two other top arable producers over the next couple of days as I make my way south.  The diary certainly is filling up rapidly now!

Day 15 - Back in the Fields

It was an early start on Day 15 of the Nuffield trip  with an appointment in Ashburton, the heart of the Canterbury Plains with Graeme Jones, Arable Business Manager for PGGWrightson Seeds.  PGGW are a seed producing company who grow and market many small seeds around the world.  The New Zealand climate, soils and water place them in a unique geographical position to take advantage of benefits.  PGGW contact many growers in the area to grow grass seeds, clover, brassica, legumes, herbs and maize for export around the world.  Many of the grass and clover seeds are exported to the UK.

Graeme has been an agronomist helping out top growers in the district, and further a field, grow very large crops of wheat.  We talked about the agronomy of wheat crops for a couple of hours and covered a large range of practical measures and local practises here in Ashburton.  One of the main differences between NZ and UK practises are the low seed rates used here.  Top growers are aiming to establish about 450 ears/m2 from a spring population of about 120 plants.  This is significantly lower than many plant populations in the UK I would suggest.  Looking at the crops in the field it is noticeable how different the canopy structure is.

We also talked about nitrogen timings and quantities.  Obviously growing higher yields will require a great input of Nitrogen, which might be tricky under the UK NVZ and RB209 regulations.  But the big crops are using that nitrogen with better utilisation as it is applied before a rainfall event or in front of an irrigation pass.

I left Graeme and headed to the PGG Wrightson trial site at Kimihla for a field day looking at more agronomy trials.  I met up with Steve Shorter in the wheat breeding trial plots.  Some of the untreated varieties where being hammered by Brown Rust (Leaf Stripe) which is rampant in the hot dry climate.  I don't hunk ones like this will get through the selection process!

There were also trials there of Bayer Crop Sciences  newest fungicide Aviator, which is not yet released here in New Zealand.  It’s performance looked very good in the field plots.  

Interestingly there was also a trial run in conjunction with FAR (Foundation for Arable Research) looking at Septoria control with different fungicides.  

The plot is mist watered 4 times a day to get the right environmental conditions for active growth and the disease was really rampant.  Some older triazole chemistry was having little effect on the disease which could indicate resistance.  This could be an issue in the future and shows the need to have a varied approach as part of a resistance strategy. Above is Rob Craigie (from FAR) demonstrating the rapid progress of the septoria fungus heading up the plant.

That evening I teamed up with three other scholars for dinner; two traveling from the UK, Rob Thornhill and Davina Fillingham  and our host, local Christchurch scholar Natasha King.  We spent a lovely few hours talking about our travelling experiences, who we had met and what we had experienced.  Thanks to all three for a great evening to round up a great day.